To celebrate the 100th edition of the Tour, and the mountains that have made it legendary, Rapha and Strava are proud to announce Rapha Rising: La Centième.

In the week which starts on Bastille Day (14th-21st July), Rapha is challenging participating riders to climb the combined height, from sea level, of the Peyresourde, Ventoux and Col de Sarenne, all of which feature in this year’s race. The Peyresourde is one of the giants of the Pyrenees, which featured in the Tour’s first excursion into the bear-infested mountains in 1910, while Mont Ventoux, the Giant of Provence, first appeared in the Tour in 1951, a year before Alpe d’Huez. Together, they’ve been the sites of some of the Tour’s most famous battles. The Col de Sarenne, however, has never been scaled in the Tour. It’s a little known col, 1,999m high, that the pros will climb this year, having first climbed the Alpe. Descending on a road resurfaced especially for them, they will loop back round to the foot of the Alpe to make that climb again.

Just as the pros will have to scale Alpe d’Huez twice, Rapha is challenging riders to scale the Alpe once more, making a total climbing distance of 7,235m, the combined elevations of the Peyresourde, Ventoux, Sarenne and Alpe d’Huez from sea level to top.

San Francisco Cycle Club
The San Francisco Cycle Club will host representatives from Strava on Sunday July 14th to kick off the week’s schedule of club rides. The SFCC will also host daily viewing of the Tour de France with early opening hours. Schedule will be found here: http://www.rapha.cc/san-francisco.

Dreams To Wheels
The SFCC will also host an in-house challenge benefitting Dreams To Wheels, a San Jose, California-based charity supporting youth cycling in Colombia. Participants “buy” into this challenge-within-a-challenge with donations to Dreams To Wheels. A live, interactive leader board will be on display throughout the challenge week and will, no doubt, encourage spirited competition at the Cycle Club.http://www.dreamstowheels.com.

Contact Cycle Club manager Dante Campanile for further details and photos: Dante.Campanile@rapha.cc